Axis A3 · scored on 55 books
Inquiry vs received truth
Is the pupil asked to reach a conclusion, or to defend one?
The most misleading axis to read from vocabulary alone. A book can be dense with the words evaluate, justify and assess and still supply every conclusion in advance. What matters is whether the proposition attached to the verb is contestable — 'justify that these are scalar quantities' is a legitimate physics task; 'justify that the Treaty of Sevres is based on fair justice' is not the same kind of thing.
How the five bands are defined
Fixed before any book was read. A score without cited evidence is not a score.
| Score | Operational test |
|---|---|
| 1 | Contested questions presented as contested; evidence weighed; multiple theories given. |
| 2 | Mostly open, with some pre-loading. |
| 3 | Mixed — inquiry verbs present but conclusions pre-loaded. |
| 4 | Inquiry vocabulary attached to supplied conclusions. |
| 5 | Conclusions handed down to be defended or memorised. |
Board means English-medium only
Urdu and Sindhi material is theme-grade under this project's evidence rules and is excluded from every mean. Means over small n are shown with their n and should not be quoted without it.
| Board | Mean | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | 2.90 | 10 | |
| Sindh | 3.00 | 8 | |
| Balochistan | 3.00 | 16 | |
| Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 3.29 | 7 | |
| Punjab | 3.45 | 11 |
Lowest is Federal (2.90), highest is Punjab (3.45). A gap this size may be an artefact of curriculum vintage rather than province — the synthesis separates the two.
Distribution across the corpus
| Score | Books | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | |
| 2 | 16 | |
| 3 | 21 | |
| 4 | 11 | |
| 5 | 7 |
Poles are descriptive, not evaluative. A high score is a measured property of a text, not a verdict on a board, an author or a teacher.
Books at the top of this axis
| Score | Book | Board | Class | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Pakistan Studies - Grade 9 | Federal | 9 | Single National Curriculum (federal) |
| 5 | Pakistan Studies 9 EM KPK | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 9 | National Curriculum 2006 |
| 5 | Pakistan Studies 10 EM KPK | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 10 | National Curriculum 2006 |
| 5 | Pakistan Studies 10 UM KPK | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 10 | National Curriculum 2006 |
| 5 | 9th Class Pakistan Studies (UM) PDF Textbook by Punjab Board | Punjab | 9 | SNC 2022 |
| 5 | Social Studies VIII (2022-23) | Sindh | 8 | Federal legacy (Middle School Project) |
Books at the bottom
| Score | Book | Board | Class | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Secondary Stage English Book Two For Class X (2022-23) | Sindh | 10 | National Curriculum 2006 |
| 2 | Social Studies VII (2020-21) | Sindh | 7 | Sindh Curriculum 2015 |
| 2 | Science VII (2020-21) | Sindh | 7 | National Curriculum 2006 |
| 2 | Social Studies VI (2020-21) | Sindh | 6 | Sindh Curriculum 2015 |
| 2 | English 10 (PECTAA 2026-27) | Punjab | 10 | PECTAA 2026 |
| 2 | Geography SNC 2023-24 Class 7 | Punjab | 7 | SNC 2022 |
Findings that turn on this axis
Where this axis is weakest
It is scored on 55 of 167 current books. Coverage is uneven by design: a lens reads the books where its question is live, so a science volume may carry three axis scores and a Pakistan Studies volume seven. That means board means on this axis rest on different books from board means on another, and the two are not interchangeable. The full per-book tables, with page-cited evidence for every score, are in the history lens report.